BOXABL today highlighted UFO (Unidentified Folding Object), a conceptual off-world habitation system designed to address the challenge of transporting livable structures beyond Earth efficiently. The concept aims to minimize launch volume and weight while maximizing usable space after deployment, leveraging the company's foldable transportable building intellectual property. BOXABL intends to make the UFO intellectual property available on a royalty-free basis to encourage broader innovation and collaboration in the development of future off-world habitats.

The foldable habitat packs into a compact launch configuration, expands on-site, and can be linked with other modules to form larger communities for crews, research, tourism, and support infrastructure. The concept is detailed in the company's recently disclosed intellectual property and is showcased in a video titled "LIVE ON THE MOON (Part 1) — UFO by BOXABL." The design contemplates compatibility with future missions involving organizations such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Blue Origin, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), European Space Agency (ESA), Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), and Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI).

BOXABL Co-CEO Paolo Tiramani stated that the project was developed by an after-hours skunkworks team operating separately from the company's day-to-day housing initiatives. He noted that rocket cargo-cost is defined by volume and weight, necessitating a design that minimizes both while solving for ease of setup, flexible configurability, linkability, and redundancy from rapid decompression on-site. Tiramani also mentioned that the challenge of long-term cosmic radiation is addressed by the company's Rego-Brix IP, which surrounds structures using easily available local material.

The company emphasized that the UFO concept does not impact BOXABL's primary mission of improving housing affordability, accessibility, and construction efficiency on Earth. BOXABL's flagship product, the Casita, is a 361 square foot studio unit that unfolds on-site in less than an hour. The company is also developing the Baby Box, a 120 square foot unit built to RV code, and stackable and connectable box models for larger housing configurations.

This announcement comes ahead of a special meeting for stockholders scheduled later today for both BOXABL and FG Merger II Corp. related to the proposed business combination. If the merger is approved by shareholders and all other customary closing conditions are satisfied, the merger is expected to close and shares of BXBL are expected to begin trading on Nasdaq shortly thereafter. FG Merger II Corp. is a blank check company formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization, or similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities.